Man allegedly held knife to dog, demanding woman's cash

A CENTRAL Queensland woman claims her son's friend held a knife to her dog and robbed her of $4500 cash on Boxing Day 2015.

Michelle Shaw made the allegations during the trial of Beau Rasmussen who pleaded not guilty to one charge of burglary while armed and one of armed robbery in the Rockhampton District Court yesterday.

Crown Prosecutor Joshua Phillips described Ms Shaw to the jury as a middle aged woman with a disability who had "squirrelled away" the $4500 for renovations to her Moura house.

He said Facebook messages between her account and Mr Rasmussen's after Boxing Day 2015 indicated "he had all but confessed" to the crime, saying he had the money and would get it back to her.

However, defence barrister Michael Bonasia alleged Ms Shaw was a drug dealer who Mr Rasmussen owed money to and she had made up the story with her neighbour, who was also a drug dealer, to get back money they were owed.

Ms Shaw denied these allegations.

She said she had wired the $4500 to her neighbour's bank account so he could take the money out in cash to pay the carpenter.

Ms Shaw said she did so because the Moura Westpac branch was closing and didn't hold that much cash on the premises.

She said she didn't make an official statement to police until February 2016 because she was scared, particularly of what might happen to her dogs Xena and Bully.

Ms Shaw told the court she worked night shifts and her dogs stayed in the backyard when she was at work.

"If anything happened to them, I would be devastated," she said.

Ms Shaw said Mr Rasmussen came to her place after 4pm on Boxing Day 2015 and asked to talk to her about her son.

She said after she let him in, he went over to Bully and put his arm around the dog, holding a knife to it while he made the demand for the money he said he knew she had.